‘I certainly feel a particular support for Theresa May as a woman to a woman.

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‘The men think they are standing on principles but they’re not getting anything done.’

The comments come after both Boris Johnson and Jacob Rees-Mogg continue to speak out against Mrs May’s Withdrawal Agreement.

Ms Rudd said she backed the Prime Minister but also voiced support for a Norway-style model if the plan is thrown out by MPs next week.

Boris Johnson quit over Brexit (Picture: Rex)

She is the first MP to publicly talk about a Plan B, which could include staying as part of the European Economic Area.

The former home secretary said the alternative ‘seems plausible not just in terms of the country but in terms of where the MPs are,’ but conceded that ‘nobody knows if it can be done’.

Ms Rudd predicted a ‘chaotic’ period if the Government is defeated.

‘If it doesn’t get through, anything could happen – People’s Vote, Norway-plus, any of these options could come forward and none of them are as good as the current arrangement we have got with the Withdrawal Agreement to vote on Tuesday.’

Her comments could be viewed as an attempt to win over Brexiteers who might prefer Mrs May’s deal, even with its controversial Northern Irish backstop, to a Norway-plus future inside both the single market and customs union or the possibility of another referendum reversing the 2016 vote.

‘A lot of people have a perfect vision of what they think Brexit should look like, and that “perfect” is not available,’ she told BBC Radio 4’s Today.

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‘What we need is a compromise deal, that’s what the Prime Minister has proposed and I would urge my colleagues to think about, first of all, why people voted to leave the European Union, what their interpretation is of that; and secondly, what the alternatives are.

There is speculation that Theresa May could be out of a job before Christmas (Picture: PA)

‘This is why I think it is important for people not just to think why they don’t particularly like the Withdrawal Agreement but what they would like better that is available and would get through the House of Commons.’

Mrs May’s leadership will be on a knife-edge if she fails to convince the majority of the Commons to back her vision of how to leave the EU next March.

She has been warned by critics that she could be forced to stand down as Prime Minister if her Brexit deal is defeated.

Eurosceptic former party leader Iain Duncan Smith cautioned against the PM and her Cabinet deciding to ‘brazen it out’, saying such an approach would be a ‘disaster’.

Another former leader Lord Howard said Mrs May would have ‘difficult decisions to make about her future and about the future of our country’ if she loses on December 11.

Ms Rudd said she hoped the Government would ‘regroup’ and ‘hold stable, hold firm’ in the aftermath of a defeat.

‘What would be a complete mistake would be to allow what is already an unstable period to descend into further instability with talk of a leadership change,’ she said.